HANOVER, IN - After all the
havoc and ruin that occurred during the weekend of March 2 when a
series of devastating tornadoes roared through southern Indiana and
surrounding areas, it wasn't long before Hanover College joined in
the cleanup and rebuilding efforts.

Hanover Chaplain Laura Arico and Cortlan Waters, assistant
director of residence life, met to determine what the school could
do to help.

In fact, many students, as well as faculty and staff, wanted to
get involved right away but Arico said it took time for the
agencies going into those damaged areas to get to a point they
could allow volunteers to help. Neither the receiving centers nor
the clean-up crews were ready to handle outside assistance yet.

As soon as they got approval, emails went out asking for
volunteers and more than 100 members of the Hanover College
community quickly signed up. Students, faculty and staff poured
into the Indiana towns of Marysville, Chelsea, New Washington and
Henryville this past weekend to assist wherever needed, from
cleanup to making meals.

In Marysville, Hanover Football Head Coach Steve Baudendistel
and several dozen players were easy to spot in their red team
sweatshirts as they carried household items like mattresses, cement
blocks, broken doors, pieces of wood, wire and much more, away from
damaged homes.

Junior Brian Robertson (Florence, Ky.) described it as
“sobering” to see all of the destruction.

“Most of the houses out here are ripped down to their
foundation, and there’s a lot of garbage to be picked
up,” he said. “So, we’re moving things from out
of the yards and toward the road and trying to organize it into
piles of metal and wood.”

Backhoes and trucks then picked up the debris and moved it to
dumpsters.

Senior Daniel Passafiume (Louisville, Ky.), one of the football
captains who helped organize his team’s turnout, said that
while he and the players had no personal connection to Marysville,
they wanted to help.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this but
putting ourselves in these people’s shoes, you can imagine,
just looking around, how helpless they probably feel,” said
Passafiume. “This is the least we can do, come out here and
help them out.”

Donna Priest, who works at rival Manchester College, and is the
mother of Hanover graduate Shelly Lopez, had nothing but praise for
the team's efforts.

“This was so wonderful working together as two rival
schools,” she said. “It was hard work but they did it
with such joy.”

For Jane Stormer , who works in Hanover’s admission
office, there was a personal connection. A friend lost three family
members when the tornado struck in Chelsea. She knows the
devastation tornadoes leave behind.

“I knew they needed a lot of help, I knew there was a lot
of destruction, so I figured on a Saturday there’s nothing
better I could do,” she said.

David Harden, Hanover's internship and Career Connections
coordinator, who spent both days on site, said how sad it was to
see entire communities leveled by the destruction.

"What hit me the most was how these houses had been around for
generations and now they're gone," he said. "It was just so
sad."

Arico said the volunteers found items that they were able to
return to the homeowners.

“Our Saturday group found family pictures that had been
blown into the woods,” she said. “They also were able
to reunite some family heirlooms with their owners.”

While many worked in Marysville, other Hanover crews went to
Chelsea and New Washington to help sort items donated by people
throughout the community. A warehouse in New Washington has aisles
and aisles of items that will eventually go toward those in need,
as soon as they are ready to receive them.

Assistant Track Coach Josh Payne took members of the team to
Henryville Sunday to help teammate Georgia Lacy (Henryville, Ind.)
clear debris from her family's home in that tornado ravaged
community.

As the weekend wrapped up, Arico said it was difficult to put an
actual number on how many people turned out to help, because while
the school had a volunteer list, there were many ad hoc efforts, as
well.

Senior Christina Bizzle (LaGrange, Ky.) was pleased with the
turnout by students.

“I think it says a lot about our campus and a lot about
the students that go there,” said Bizzle. “We
definitely appreciate our communities and the surrounding people,
and we like to do as much (as we can) to give back.”

The weekend efforts won’t be the only time the Hanover
community offers assistance. Arico said the school plans to be in
it for the long haul and will work with Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance to clean up, help rebuild homes and restore
communities.

“This is Hanover's character," said Arico.”These are
our neighbors and this is our neighborhood.”